CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Remember when everyone in the golf world was cranky a couple of days ago?
Remember all the moaning about the lackluster leaderboard, crappy course and how this tournament felt more like a regular old PGA Tour event than the PGA Championship?
Now, look at the leaderboard.
Look at the tournament the curiously maligned Quail Hollow Club has produced.
The cream has risen to the top at Quail Hollow.
It just took a few days for it to happen.
As we proceed to the final round Sunday, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the leader at 11-under par with a three-shot lead after shooting a startling 6-under-par 65 on Saturday.
Scheffler went 5-under on the final five holes, including an eagle on the drivable par-4 14th thanks to the shot of the tournament.
He hit his drive on the 305-yard hole to two feet and tapped in.
Scheffler, who won seven times last year and has only one victory this year, said winning another major championship “would mean a lot” to him.
“These tournaments are very important to us, and you work your whole life to have a chance to win major tournaments,’’ he said. “I have a good opportunity to go out there and try and win the golf tournament. But it’s going to take another really good round.
“There’s a lot of great players chasing me on the leaderboard, and someone is going to put up a great round, and it’s up to me to go out there and have another really good round and finish off the tournament. Looking forward to the challenge.”
Behind Scheffler is some star power that’s not out of the tournament, but have some work to do after the impressive finish by the No. 1 golfer in the world.
Jon Rahm, after shooting 67, is 6-under par, five shots behind Scheffler.
Bryson DeChambeau is six back at 5-under after shooting a 4-under-par 69.
And Keegan Bradley, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, also is 5-under after shooting 68.
To borrow from the famous Kirk Cousins rant when he played in Washington: “You like that?”
Closest behind Scheffler is Alex Noren, a 42-year-old Swede who entered this week having played all of four PGA Tour rounds all year (a tie for 51st last week in the Truist Championship).
Noren, who’s been out of action for months because of an injury to a tendon in his hamstring, is 8-under par after shooting 66 on Saturday.
Davis Riley and J.T. Poston are 7-under par and four shots back.
“I was really excited to see Scottie and Bryson up there,” Bradley said. “I’m always taking a peek at the leaderboard to see where I am and where our [Ryder Cup] guys are at. I love looking up there and seeing the leaderboard packed with Americans.”
Scheffler, as is his hallmark, had a couple of massive bounce back holes after bogeys on Nos. 11 and 13.
He followed the bogey on 11 with a birdie on the par-4 12th and followed the bogey on the par-3 13th with an eagle on 14.
“Those were big — especially after the bogey on 13, to respond the way I did on 14, it’s a really hard shot,” he said. “That’s a hole where there’s going to be a variance in scores. It’s pretty big, depending how you hit that shot.
“I was fortunate to hit a good one there and make a nice eagle to give me some momentum going into the last few holes and took advantage of some more opportunities in the closing stretch.”
This is how 14 went down in his words:
“I was trying to hit a good hard draw 3-wood. I executed the shot. Did I execute it thinking I hit it two feet or whatever it was? I mean, there’s a little bit of luck involved in that when you’re at 300 yards, but overall, I executed the shot exactly how I wanted to.’’
DeChambeau electrified the grounds when he took the outright lead at 8-under par with a birdie on the 15th hole. He riled the crowds up waving his arms, and they celebrated with him.
“I was pumped,” he said. “I was like, ‘All right, in the lead, let’s go. Let’s keep pressing.’ Then I just had to calm myself down.”
Then he faltered on the way home, with bogey on No. 16 and a double on 17, where his tee shot went into the water, to fall back.
“You can always ask for more,” he said. “You can always try to be a little greedier out there. What happened, happened. It was just an unfortunate series of events that I can handle. It’s just golf. That’s why golf is the worst four-letter word in the world.”
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